Bleaching is a very delicate process that involves chemical hair dyes. The process strips away the natural pigments of your hair and replaces them with new pigments. This can help you achieve hair colors that are a lot more vibrant.
For many people, bleaching is risky because various aspects can go wrong. But in recent years, hair bleaching has become a lot safer because a lot of new products have been developed for it. Thanks to these products, people can get the vibrant hair color they would otherwise not achieve at home.
This article will explore the different ways you can damage your hair by bleaching to serve as a caution when you don’t take this step seriously.
8 Ways Bleaching Can Damage Your Hair
It dries out your hair
Bleaching the hair can damage it. The chemicals in bleach work by oxidizing melanin, or the pigment that gives your hair color. This process causes hair to get drier and more porous over time, which means it loses moisture faster than naturally-colored hair. Bleaching also makes strands more vulnerable to breakage, so if you don’t take good care of them, they’ll become less healthy.
Your hair may turn orange if you don’t know what you’re doing
If you don’t know what you’re doing, bleaching can cause severe damage to your hair. It can turn your hair orange if done incorrectly or if the wrong products are used.
Split ends or excessive breakage
Another downside of bleaching is that it can cause damage to your strands. If you’re using a harsh chemical dye at home, you may experience split ends and dryness along the length. Bleaching also causes breakage because it removes some of the outer layers of protein from each strand of hair and lightens them toward their natural color or pigment.
Stubborn dandruff and itchy scalp
Bleaching your hair doesn’t just remove the color; it also removes the essential oils that keep your scalp healthy. This can lead to dandruff and itchy, irritated skin. To avoid these problems, use a clarifying shampoo as often as needed to remove buildup in your hair and scalp. Then, apply a leave-on conditioner after each shampoo to restore moisture to your hair and prevent breakage.
Bleach can also cause an allergic reaction in some people, causing dryness and flaking on the scalp. This can be especially problematic for people with sensitive skin or scalp conditions like eczema or psoriasis.
A dull, lackluster appearance of your hair
If you’ve seen someone with bleached blonde locks before, you’ve probably noticed how flat the color looked compared to natural shades of blonde or brunette. That’s because bleaching removes all traces of shine from the cuticle layer of the hair shaft.
More damage over time
Bleaching can cause breakage and damage to the cuticle of your hair. This happens in two ways:
- The bleach can break the bonds of keratin protein in your hair shafts.
- The bleach’s heat can break down your hair fibers’ structure and cause them to become more brittle and prone to breakage.
Dry and brittle strands
Bleaching can damage your hair by drying out its natural oils, altering its texture and appearance. You may end up with dry and brittle strands that easily break when you brush or style them with heat tools like curling irons and blow dryers. If you want to keep your hair healthy while lightening it, try a gentler method like highlighting instead of bleaching your entire head of hair all at once.
Inability to restore hair to its original condition
The most usual form of hair bleaching is hydrogen peroxide, which breaks down when it comes into contact with the protein in your hair shafts during application. This results in oxidation, which causes breakage and damage to your strands.
Due to this damage, your hair will become weaker than normal as it grows. This means that if you want to dye your locks back to their original shade, it’ll take longer for them to grow back because they won’t have as much strength as they used to.
Is Bleaching Good, Bad, or Ugly?
When deciding whether or not to bleach your hair, keep in mind that while a healthy, natural look may be what you want, there are also other things to consider. Before bleaching your hair, you should know all its effects, positive or otherwise.
The decision to go with bleached hair is yours to make, but you shouldn’t enter the process blindly. Your choice during this process will affect your hair, making it more brittle or dryer than normal. Moreover, if you keep bleaching, you’ll do more damage than good to your hair and scalp.
So, make sure you’ve thoroughly considered all these things before bleaching your hair. It will be a life-changing one, so choose wisely!
Related Post: How to Safely Bleach Hair Bundles
